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Tuesday, May 25, 2010

I've been away for almost two weeks because of field trips and meetings. As I drove to the first field trip, I stopped and took this picture on Highway 50, within sight of the Eureka Quartzite outcrop on Lone Mountain. I took the picture knowing that I'd soon be north of the snow-covered mountains, north and beyond.

The Three Bar Ranch Road (or 3 Bar Road, Eureka #3708) heads north between the Simpson Park Mountains (left and center) and Roberts Mountains (right of the photo). From the pass between the two mountain ranges, one can drive northeast into Denay, Garden, and Pine Valleys. The Buckhorn-Cortez Road (Eureka #3706, same map) will take one west into the north end of Molly Knudtsen's Grass Valley and onto the Grass Valley and Cortez Road(s) (Eureka #3707, Lander #4206, also shown on old maps as S.R. 21). At the north end of Grass Valley, one is practically at the old silver mining district of Cortez. (Cortez used to be pronounced COR-tehz, but recent influx of people from outside the state has caused the pronunciation to revert to the more usual Cor-TEZ.)

The 3 Bar and Grass Valley Roads provide an excellent opportunity to make a side loop north from Highway 50 - a side loop entirely on dirt. The Grass Valley Road takes off from Highway 50 from a low area between Austin Summit and Bob Scott Summit, going north all the way to Cortez, or looping back to the 3 Bar Road through Pine Valley. It's a little early in the year to take this side trip (this year, anyway), although I'm thinking about it.

7 comments:

Coming back, time and weather inteferred with my idea of driving down the Cortez Road from Beowawe or from making the loop road from Austin through Grass Valley to the Three Bar Road. Mostly time - not enough. A little bit weather - rain and snow squalls to the north.